The Roles of Phase Transition in Multi-Agent Performance Regulation

The resource allocation problem in multi-agent systems is one of the crucial problems hindering the development of multi-agent technologies. This study demonstrates that "time delay" functions as an effective factor in a resource allocation, contrasting to the conventional real-time oriented multi-agent paradigm by 1) introducing a "fickle" agent, whose own strategy fluctuates randomly, and 2) an agent repository mechanism. This study also demonstrates that in the resource allocation process, time delay induces dramatic changes in performance, the specific phenomenon is the so-called "phase transition phenomenon". This finding means emergence of the phase transition is cited as a major factor governing multi-agent system performance. This knowledge is of essential importance in the regulation in multi-agent performance.